It’s been another week and another set of victories for the Boston University women’s soccer team, as the Terriers pushed their winning streak to six games after victories over University of Maryland Baltimore County on Thursday and Stony Brook University on Sunday.
However, despite the team’s great results since America East conference play began on Sept. 23, the last two games have certainly not been walks in the park for the Terriers.
Down in Maryland, BU and UMBC remained scoreless for the entire game until freshman midfielder Rachel Blauner scored the first goal of her collegiate career with only 18 seconds remaining in regulation, giving the Terriers the 1–0 victory.
On Sunday afternoon at Nickerson Field, the Terriers held a 3–1 lead against Stony Brook late in the second half, but a corner kick goal by Stony Brook freshman defender Stella Norman with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation cut the Terriers’ lead back down to one. Despite the fact the Seawolves had the ball in BU’s end of the field for the last few minutes of the game, BU buckled down and held on to for a 3–2 win.
BU coach Nancy Feldman said she was happy to keep the winning streak alive, but was not “extremely satisfied” with certain aspects of the team’s performance, especially against Stony Brook.
“[Stony Brook] pressed us. They made us work,” Feldman said. “I just felt like we had had an attitude of just doing enough to get by, and my expectation is much higher than that.”
Feldman was less critical about the UMBC game, a contest that in which Terriers outshot the Retrievers 28–4 and recorded nine more shots on goal.
“We were tied 0–0, we outshot them, we kept our level of frustration at UMBC to a minimum, we kept playing, that was a good sign,” Feldman said. “We never lost our way.”
When asked if the team has benefited from playing in these down-to-the-wire games, Feldman said that she is more focused on the consistency of her team’s play.
“I would rather not focus on [close games], because to me, it’s about how we play, and how we play in all of these situations from start to finish and I guess I wasn’t satisfied from start to finish … I would like to see us be better by playing at the level we’re capable of throughout the 90 minutes.”
While both Feldman and the Terriers would like to avoid another close game, the team has a daunting task ahead, as it will travel to Connecticut to take on the University of Hartford on Thursday night.
The University of Hartford Hawks boast an impressive 9–2–1 record on the year and are tied with BU in America East conference standings with a 5–0 record.
With both teams entering the upcoming match with six-game winning streaks, most expect that this game will likely be another nail bitter. However, Feldman said she is confident in her team’s ability to extend its win streak as the season hits its final stretch.
“We’re starting to really know how to play together,” Feldman said. “We know the answers, and now it’s about the focus, the commitment and having our minds being ready and open to doing it.”
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